Curt Watkins

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.


Curt (AKA "Dad" or "Grandpa") has always had a leaky heart valve.  He's lived with it all of his life and maintained a very healthy active lifestyle!  Those that know him know that he loves to hunt, fish, hike and just enjoy God's creation as much as he can.  
Curt had been in to visit his cardiologist about 2 weeks ago (from today 2/22) and they wanted to do a few tests to make sure his heart was OK.  Well, God decided to expedite things a little when Curt woke up about 2 AM on Thursday 2/16 with some pressure on his chest.  That was obviously worrisome to JoAnn (AKA "Mom" or "Grandma") who is a Nurse by trade.  So they went into the ER about 4 AM on Thursday and they admitted Dad.
They did an angiogram and a myriad of other tests and found out that he had 4 arteries that were blocked.  Three were about 70% blocked and one was 100% blocked - so it was a very good thing they did not wait!  They decided to keep him until he could have bypass surgery.  
On Friday 2/17 Dad was transferred by ambulance from Ridges in Burnsville up to Southdale in Edina, where they would perform the surgery.  Mark got to ride with Dad!  They said the ride was pretty bumpy - but overall uneventful (which is good!).
Dad settled in to wait through the weekend until they could schedule the surgery.  It turns out all of the surgeons were out at a conference, so we weren't sure when they would operate on Dad.  While he waited, Dad had LOTS of visitors!  Many people stopped by to say hi, pray with him, encourage him and keep him company in the long (boring) waiting process.  He did some resting (as the heart issues made him very tired), he played some cards with his grandkids and enjoyed the family time.
on Monday 2/20 - Mom went in for her 3rd endoscopy.  She was diagnoses with a severe stricture of her small intestine several months ago.  They endoscopies are helping to dilate the stricture, which is relieving her pain and nausea (praise God!).  Lindsey (daughter-in-law, Mark's wife) was able to spend the day with Mom at her procedure, while Molly (Curt & JoAnn's daughter) was able to spend the day with Dad.  Everything went great with Mom's procedure and we went to visit Dad that evening.
During the day on Monday, they did a few tests on Dad to prepare him for surgery, because we found out the surgery was scheduled for Tuesday 2/21 at 1 PM CST.  They did an ultrasound to find some veins they could use for the bypass and ran some blood work to make sure there were no infections.  Dad looked great and was ready for Tuesday.
We are very thankful for all of the prayers and support!  Dad was VERY peaceful going into the surgery on Tuesday and we know that, that is only by the Grace of God!